[GeeTwo]

Facility:
The ideal facility would be about 20 meters square with a five meter ceiling. One-quarter would have a machine shop, one-quarter meeting and designing and programming and light build space, and the other half would be the practice field. We manage with a rather large science classroom (about a quarter that size) that we have to turn back into a classroom after each build session, and about a dozen spaces worth of parking lot. Make sure you have enough power and lighting, and wash facilities.

Tools: a chop saw or band saw and a bench press are essential, as well as wrenches, pliers, clamps, hammers, screwdrivers, wire strippers and crimpers, pencils/sharpies, and hand drills/screwdrivers. A grinder, reciprocating saw, sander, jig saw, and computers better than the classmate provided to rookie teams are on the first follow-up tool lists. You will need admin computer(s) for team organization, and researching/ordering parts as well as programming/design workstations.

Remember that in addition to building a robot (most startup teams use aluminum extrusion or a building system like Versaframe), you will need to build a practice field. Get a roll of carpet, lumber, plywood, and tools necessary to fabricate your practice field, too.

Organization - shelves, toolboxes, shop vac, broom, dustpan, trash can, dry-erase boards and/or bulletin boards, work benches, desks, a small filing cabinet.

Stock and hardware - you may want to start light if you're on a typical introductory budget, but eventually you'll want to build up metal stock, gearboxes, motors, fasteners, sensors, pneumatic cylinders and other components, rolls of wire, electrical connectors of various sizes, motor controllers, cable ties, pipe clamps, and more.

First year's budget: registration and travel are mandatory and the easiest numbers to calculate. A bare-bones budget above these would be roughly equal to the registration cost (another $5000US); strive to get to about three or four times this amount within a very few years. A bigger budget not only means better robots, but more capability for outreach and inspiration, which is really the point of FIRST.